Shortcut Menus and Function Keys (External References Palette)

Provides an alternative way to access functions in the External References palette.

When working in the File References pane, there are several shortcut menus that can be displayed when you right-click on file references or empty areas of the pane. The following tables show the shortcut menu items that you are presented under certain conditions.

No Reference Selected

When no file references are selected, the shortcut menu presents the following functions:

Menu Item	Description
Reload All References	Reloads all referenced files. (Unavailable if no file references are attached)
Select All	Selects all file references, excluding the current drawing. This item is not displayed in tree view.
Attach DWG	Starts the XATTACH command.
Attach Image	Starts the IMAGEATTACH command.
Attach DWF	Starts the DWFATTACH command.
Attach DGN	Starts the DGNATTACH command.
Attach PDF	Starts the PDFATTACH command.
Attach Point Cloud	Starts the POINTCLOUDATTACH command. (Not available in AutoCAD LT)
Attach Coordination Model	Starts the COORDINATIONMODELATTACH command. (Not available in AutoCAD LT)
Tooltip Style	Modifies the tooltip that appears when you hover over an item in the list view of the palette.
Preview/Details Pane	Turns the display of the Preview/Details pane off and on.
Close	Closes the External References palette.

Reference Selected

When you select a file reference, the shortcut menu presents the following functions:

Menu Item	Description	Reference Status
Open	Opens the selected reference file in the original application in which it was created (specified by the operating system).	Available only for file references with a Loaded status - Unavailable when Unloaded, Not Found or Unresolved.
Attach	Allows you to change settings such as scale, insertion point, and path type. You can also attach a different page from the attached PDF file, a different sheet from an attached DWF file, or a different model name from an attached DGN file.	Always available - status has no affect on this function.
Unload	Unloads the selected file references.	Always available. Status has no affect on this function.
Reload	Reloads the selected file references.	Always available. Status has no affect on this function.
Detach	Detaches the selected file references.	Available for all file references except data link.
Bind	Displays the Bind Xrefs dialog box. Only available for referenced DWG files. This is not available for images and underlays.	Available only for file references with a Loaded status. Unavailable when Unloaded, Not Found or Unresolved.
Xref Type Attach	Specifies that the selection is an attachment.	Available for DWG xrefs only.
Xref Type Overlay	Specifies that the selection is an overlay.	Available for DWG xrefs only.
Change Path Type Make Absolute	Changes a relative path of a reference to a full path.	Available for all file references.
Change Path Type Make Relative	Changes the full path of a reference to a relative path. You can assign a relative path to a file reference even when the host drawing is unnamed. The Saved Path column displays a Full path, with an asterisk prefix to indicate that a change will take place on save operation, until the host drawing is saved.	Available for all file references.
Change Path Type Remove Path	Removes the file path from the name of the reference, for referenced files stored in the same location as the drawing file.	Available for all file references except data link.
Select New Path...	Allows you to browse to a new location for a not found reference file (fix one), and then provides you with an option to apply the same new location for other missing reference files (fix all).	Available for all file references.
Find and Replace...	Locates all references that use a specified path from all the references that you selected, and replaces all occurrences of that path with a new path that you specify	Available for all file references.

Function Key Access

Some tasks in the File References pane can be accessed with function keys.

F2 - Accesses the Rename function when a single file reference is selected.
F3 - List View toggle.
F4 - Tree View toggle.